Your job is protected
While you are on approved leave, your group health coverage continues and your job, or an equivalent one, is waiting when you come back.
Leave and job protection
Take the leave you may be owed.
Treatment goes better when you are not also chasing HR forms. Here is how FMLA and short-term disability work alongside addiction and mental health care, and what our case management team handles for you.
What FMLA does
Four things worth knowing before you ask.
Up to 12 workweeks
Eligible employees can take as much as 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for a serious health condition.
The leave itself is unpaid
FMLA does not require your employer to pay you. Short-term disability, accrued paid leave or an employer program is usually what replaces part of your income.
Treatment counts
A substance use disorder or a mental health condition can qualify as a serious health condition when it requires continuing treatment.
Eligibility
Do you qualify?
FMLA is federal law, and it applies to employees who meet a few specific conditions. Your HR department can confirm the details of your situation.
- You have worked for your employer for at least 12 months
- You worked at least 1,250 hours during the last 12 months
- Your employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles of where you work
Employer policies, state leave laws and private disability plans can add more than FMLA does. Ask HR which programs apply to you before you assume the answer.
Treatment and your schedule
What your program means for the leave you take.
Addiction PHP
PHP runs six hours a day, Monday through Friday, so most people take continuous leave for the length of the program and step down to IOP before returning full time.
Addiction IOP and Mental Health IOP
IOP meets on a lighter weekly schedule. Some people keep working alongside it with intermittent or reduced-schedule leave, which usually needs a written plan your employer agrees to.
Intermittent leave
FMLA can be taken in blocks rather than all at once when your provider says that is what treatment requires, such as for scheduled sessions or medical appointments.
Only your employer and your leave administrator decide what they approve. We tell them what treatment looks like. They decide the leave.
Our part
What case management signs and tracks.
Leave paperwork usually has a section that only a treating provider can complete. That part is ours to finish, and we keep the follow-up from sitting unfinished.
The medical certification
The form your employer or carrier sends us, completed and signed by the clinician treating you.
Dates and expected duration
When treatment began, how long it is expected to continue and what the weekly schedule looks like.
Re-certification and updates
Fresh paperwork if leave runs longer than first expected, and attendance records where they are requested.
A direct line to case management
With your written authorization, HR, the leave administrator or the benefit carrier can reach us instead of going through you.
Short-term disability
FMLA protects the job. Disability usually replaces the paycheck.
These are two separate things, and it is common to need both at the same time.
It is a separate policy
Short-term disability is usually an employer-sponsored insurance policy rather than a government program, and not every employer offers one.
It replaces part of your pay
Most policies pay a percentage of your usual earnings after a short waiting period, often one to two weeks.
The carrier decides
Approval rests with the insurance carrier. They usually ask your treating clinician to describe the condition, the expected duration of care and any limits on working.
Claims have deadlines
Certifications are often due on a schedule, and a late form can pause or reduce a payment.
How to ask
Five steps, in order.
You do not need to know the right terminology. You need to start the clock, because some forms are due within days of your first absence.
- 01
Tell your supervisor, not the details
You do not have to explain a diagnosis. Saying you are entering medical treatment and need to ask about leave is enough to start the process.
- 02
Ask HR for the paperwork
Request FMLA forms and, if your employer offers it, short-term disability claim forms. Note which office or carrier each one goes to.
- 03
Send the forms to us
Case management can receive them directly from your employer, or you can bring them to a session.
- 04
We complete our part
Certification, dates, signatures and any follow-up the carrier asks for, with the deadlines written down.
- 05
Keep your own record
A copy of what went where and when, plus the date your leave is scheduled to end. Case management keeps the same log on our side.
Questions employees and families ask
Straight answers about leave paperwork.
Does my employer get told what I am being treated for?
No. An FMLA certification asks for the dates leave is needed and the reason for it in general terms. Our records follow confidentiality rules, and we share only what you have authorized in writing.
Can I be fired for entering treatment?
If you are eligible, FMLA protects your job while you are on approved leave. It does not shield conduct at work, so a policy violation that is unrelated to your leave can still be addressed by your employer.
Do I have to use FMLA and short-term disability together?
Not always. FMLA protects the job, short-term disability replaces part of your pay, and many people use both: FMLA for the protection, disability or accrued paid leave for the income.
What happens if my leave or claim is denied?
Ask the carrier or HR for the reason in writing. Denials often come down to missing documentation, and a completed certification or a resubmitted claim can resolve it. An employment attorney or your state labor department can review a decision that stands.
Before you file
Tell us what your employer is asking for.
Call admissions and describe the leave you are trying to take. We can tell you what we are able to complete and how the timing is likely to work alongside treatment.
FMLA eligibility, approved leave and short-term disability benefits depend on your employer, your policy and your situation. We complete the documentation we are able to provide and cannot determine your benefits or guarantee approval.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Your HR department or an employment attorney can confirm what applies to you.
You don’t have to do this alone
A conversation can change everything.
Let’s find the right next step. For you, or someone you love.